Candidates have limited control in an interview. They cannot control the questions they will be asked nor can they control the manner by which employers will rank and weigh their responses. They cannot control interviewer bias.

Despite such noble intentions, candidates are frequently rejected or hired for other criteria. Over the past several months, we have had candidates eliminated by clients not for failing to check off the exhaustive list of requisite experience, skills or competencies but rather...

Many hiring managers read resumes in a cursory manner. They review the companies and roles that candidates have filled over their careers while making note of education levels, stability, the quality/consistency of overall career trajectory, and purported skills, knowledge and competencies.

Executive search processes and their outcomes fascinate me to no end. I enjoy trying to figure out how organizations determine their requirements and how well the outcomes line up to them. The recent decision to hire Ron Tavener as OPP Commissioner is a case in point.

In our last post we discussed the temptations facing unemployed executives to move with extreme haste in finding a new role. Conceptualizing job loss as akin to falling off a horse they associate ‘down time' with unproductive, time-consuming activity.

Every week, without exception, we meet executives who have jumped back on their horses in this very manner and embraced a ‘spray and pray' job search strategy. For some it may work like a charm but for the majority, dare I say the vast majority, it is the wrong approach.

The message for companies is pay attention, respect personal dignity, gives candidates a voice and some control over the process, and treat them as partners in an important relationship. Not only will companies have a higher chance of hiring them, on terms possibly more favorable, but as it turns out, keeping them.

The Cost of Sloppy Resumes and Cover Letters

February 4, 2011

“I am a proven general manager with over 20 years of direct contributions in strategic and front lines operations in Early Stage, small and large growth oriented High Technologies and industrials companies. Able to intently focus on a business opportunity, develop the strategy, build successful teams to match cutting-edge technology to market timing while scaling a high growth business in competitive markets and focus on execution provides an excellent skills base for building successful companies and increasing shareholder’s values in today’s competitive market conditions”. Resume Introduction

Having sent out resumes by the wheelbarrow you are struggling to generate any sustained market traction. Disappointed, you wonder if perhaps the economy is softer than reported, or if your credentials and track record are failing to resonate with potential employers. As you contemplate the possible contributing factors, don’t overlook the role played by a cover letter and resume in either enhancing or sabotaging your employment prospects. Do these documents speak with an eloquence or elegance that helps your cause or are they plagued with damaging spelling, grammatical and typographical errors? If it is the latter be aware that many organizations will use such sloppiness to terminate your candidacy before it even begins.

Though I do not track specific numbers, I would venture that twenty-percent of all resumes crossing my desk have errors that reflect poorly on the individuals who submitted them. These range from poorly constructed sentences and grammatical errors (see opening paragraph above extracted from an actual resume), to misaligned dates of employment to simple typographical and spelling mistakes. While in some instances these errors appear as simple proof-reading oversights, in others they actually belie the credentials of the individuals submitting them. For example, a poorly written cover letter will not be overlooked when the candidate is applying for a senior communications role. Such a candidate should also know better than to write, as one person did in a resume, that he “coach’s kid’s hockey.

It can be assumed that no one intentionally drafts a resume rife with errors, and thus, all job-seekers must believe they are part of the majority whose resumes are error-free. Since this cannot hold true, it is prudent for everyone to have their resumes and cover letters proofread and edited before distributing them. At least so you would think….About the author

Robert Hebert is the founder and Managing Partner of StoneWood Group Inc., a leading executive search firm in Canada. Since 1981, he has helped firms across a wide range of sectors address their senior recruiting, assessment and leadership development requirements.